Large scale tree felling for safety reasons will be taking place along the A49 at Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum over the next few weeks.
Large scale tree felling for safety reasons will be taking place along the A49 at Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum over the next few weeks. This will require traffic management as the works will be taking place adjacent to the road to the north of the entrance to Queenswood.
The works are being done to remove diseased ash and other trees that are at risk of falling into the road. Ash is the dominant species of tree in this part of the wood and many of them are showing signs of dieback due to the fungal disease known as chalara. This causes the trees to rot from the inside and become very unstable. Other trees nearby will also have to be felled because if left standing they will be more exposed to strong winds once the ash have gone.
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, who are carrying out the work, carry out regular surveys of the woods to monitor tree safety and infectious diseases and identified the dieback in the trees a number of years ago. It is now felt that the degree of dieback is sufficiently severe that the trees need to be felled before they become dangerous.
Esther Clarke, Reserves Team Manager for the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, says that “surveys have been carried out to identify any trees with potential bat roosts and these will be left or taken down in a controlled way so as to avoid any disturbance to bats. Officers from The Trust will be on hand to check for bats and dormice while the work is taking place and the contractors have been fully briefed regarding protecting wildlife and minimising disturbance.” She explained that the work ideally would have taken place earlier in the winter but delays due to the recent storms and getting permissions for the traffic management has meant that the work is likely to extend into the bird nesting season. Extra care is therefore being taken to check for nests and special permissions have been sought from Natural England for the felling.
Once the felling has taken place the woodland will be allowed to regenerate naturally. The removal of the trees will allow more light onto the woodland floor which will encourage a flush of woodland flowers and shrubby undergrowth over the next few years. This will be ideal habitat for birds, butterflies and small mammals, such as dormice. Gradually the healthy trees will grow back and new saplings will germinate and replace the diseased ash trees. The woodland can then be managed in such a way that the road is not at risk from falling trees by maintaining a wider verge of shrubs, grasses and flowers and more frequent coppicing of trees.
More work is due to take place later in the year in the southern part of the wood adjacent to the main trunk road.
